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Toronto Sun
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Hugh Jackman's ex Deborra-Lee Furness hints at 'betrayal' as she files for divorce
Marvel star is 'moving on with his life' following end of nearly 30-year marriage Get the latest from Mark Daniell straight to your inbox Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness attend "Hugh Jackman: One Night Only" benefiting the MPTF at the Dolby Theatre on Oct. 12, 2013 in Los Angeles. Photo by Kevin Winter / Getty Images Deborra-Lee Furness has officially filed for divorce from Hugh Jackman nearly two years after the pair amicably separated, hinting that a 'betrayal' ended their marriage. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account 'My heart and compassion goes out to everyone who has traversed the traumatic journey of betrayal,' Furness, 69, said in a statement shared with the Daily Mail . Furness called their split 'a profound wound that cuts deep,' but said that her belief 'in a higher power' has helped her 'navigate the breakdown of an almost three-decade marriage.' 'Even when we are presented with apparent adversity, it is leading us to our greatest good, our true purpose. It can hurt, but in the long run, returning to yourself and living within your own integrity, values and boundaries is liberation and freedom,' she said. Furness also said that one of her takeaways from her divorce from Jackman was 'that none of this is personal.' Hugh Jackman and his Deborra-Lee Furness seen at the Venice Film Festival in 2022. Photo by TIZIANA FABI / AFP via Getty Images 'We are all on our individual journeys and I believe that the relationships in our lives are not random. We are drawn to people, we invite them in, in order to learn our lessons and to recognize and heal the broken parts of ourselves…I remain grateful,' Furness concluded. Furness and Jackman announced their separation in September 2023 in a joint statement in which they pledged to undertake 'this next chapter with gratitude, love, and kindness.' 'We have been blessed to share almost 3 decades together as husband and wife in a wonderful, loving marriage. Our journey now is shifting and we have decided to separate to pursue our individual growth,' they said. In April of that year, Jackman celebrated their 27th anniversary with a tribute on Instagram. 'I love you so much. Together we have created a beautiful family. And life,' he wrote . 'Your laughter, your spirit, generosity, humour, cheekiness, courage and loyalty is an incredible gift to me.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The couple met in 1995 while filming an Australian TV show when she was 40 and he was 27 and just starting out as an actor. They were married the next year and share two adopted children, Oscar, 25, and Ava, 19. In a 2017 appearance on People TV's The Jess Cagle Interview, Jackman said it was love at first sight when he met Furness on the set of their show and realized he had 'a crush on my leading lady.' 'Deb, she was a big star. I get picked up, and Deb is in the front seat of the car. I'll never forget. She took off her seatbelt and she turned around and put out her hand and took off her sunglasses and said, 'Hi, I'm Deborra-Lee Furness, nice to meet you.' I remember thinking, 'I like this girl,'' he recalled. Jackman, who has moved on with Sutton Foster, was reportedly caught off guard by Furness' statement of 'betrayal' in announcing that she had filed for divorce. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster attend the 75th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 12, 2022 in New York City. Photo by Dia Dipasupil / Getty Images Jackman met Foster, 50, in the early 2000s and the two became close during their run together in a Broadway revival of The Music Man in 2022. 'The best thing that's happened out of this whole thing is that I've made a new friend, which you never anticipate,' she told PEOPLE of her friendship with Jackman in 2022. 'We always joke that after 40, you don't really make new friends! He's a dream and so kind and talented and is even more generous. He's pretty fantastic.' After Jackman and Furness split in 2023, Foster filed for divorce from her husband Ted Griffin the following year. Earlier this year, the two seemingly confirmed their romance when they were spotted holding hands in Santa Monica. In the wake of Furness' statement, according to a report from t he Daily Mail , Jackman is now 'extremely disappointed' by her public comments. A source claimed that 'there was an unwritten understanding that she would not trash him to the press.' But Jackman's childhood friend Gus Worland says the actor is now 'moving on with his life.' ' I was over in New York with (Jackman) just last month and he's fine,' Worland told Australia's Ben Fordham Live breakfast radio show on Thursday. 'He is going along well. He's moving on with his life and I hope that Deb does as well.' mdaniell@ Read More Toronto & GTA Sunshine Girls Sunshine Girls Tennis NFL
Associated Press
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
The Recording Industry's Music Performance Trust Fund Projects Grants of More than $1 Million to Communities Celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month in April 2025
Month-long investment throughout North America intends to benefit individuals and communities sharing this treasured American art form NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / March 4, 2025 / The recording industry's Music Performance Trust Fund (MPTF), a leading non-profit organization enriching lives and uniting communities through the power of music, is on track to distribute over $1,000,000 in grants for admission-free live concerts this April for Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM). This is the second consecutive year that the dollar value of the grants, which pay professional jazz musicians to perform, will achieve that level. Last year, the funds supported 750 performances throughout the U.S. and Canada in April alone, including 75 that were live streamed through the MPTF's Facebook page. MPTF Trustee Dan Beck stated, 'Regional pockets of live jazz are alive and well across North America, and it is fundamental to the genre. The local offices of the American Federation of Musicians do a tremendous job of organizing these performances for their communities and for their musicians.' The MPTF plays a vital role in support of the music industry's gig economy. Primarily funded by four major record companies, including Sony Music, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Walt Disney Records, the independently run organization has distributed millions of dollars in financial resources and grants, engaging professional musicians who are members of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) to perform live in admission-free events across North America. Since its founding in 1948, the MPTF has distributed more than $630 million (USD) in sponsorship money. The annual campaign, themed by the MPTF as 'Jazz Across America,' features the support of website partners and where performer and event location information for most of the performances are being listed. These websites boast the world's largest jazz events calendars and reach a combined 240,000 viewers per month. All live stream events will be featured on the MPTF Facebook page at Beck added, 'Tuning in to live stream performance events as they happen is a unique way the public can experience jazz musicians from various locales throughout the U.S. and Canada.' Jazz performances have been supported by the MPTF since it began more than 75 years ago, and over 1,600 regional jazz concerts have been funded since the end of the pandemic. With this year's projections, the fund will have distributed more than $3.1 million in Jazz Across America grants to compensate these fine musicians. Events will be organized by American Federation of Musicians locals to ensure fair compensation for all performers. ### About the MPTF: The recording industry's Music Performance Trust Fund is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit public service organization whose mission is to support admission-free, live events performed by professional musicians throughout the United States and Canada. We seek to enrich the lives of the public, young and old, through music, and to contribute to the public's knowledge and appreciation of music. We also seek to make music and music education an exciting experience, and to expand it to every child's life experience. The MPTF was established 75 years ago by recording companies including Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group. Interested parties may contact Samantha Ramos, Director of Grant Management, at [email protected] or visit About All About Jazz: All About Jazz (AAJ) has been a pillar of the jazz community since 1995, championing the music as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Their enduring commitment has made AAJ one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts, musicians and industry figures every month. For more information, contact Michael Ricci at [email protected].
Los Angeles Times
10-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Hollywood's spiciest writing group? It's at a retirement home for showbiz veterans
Seated at a folding table in a large sun-filled room, Melody Sherwood adjusted the portable microphone stand and started to read. 'One of Cary Grant's favorite things to do was to tell stories,' she began in a voice like an old-fashioned schoolteacher. 'He had an abundant supply. One of my favorite things to do was listen to him tell them.' Sherwood, a close friend of Grant's who spent 30 years working as Lew Wasserman's executive assistant at Universal, went on to relay an only-in-Hollywood tale involving Grant's first time entertaining troops overseas, a practical joke by the actor David Niven and why for the last 50 years she's had a vanity license plate with the letters GAFY printed on it, an acronym for 'Go And F— Yourself.' It was a surprisingly spicy story for a seemingly buttoned-up 81-year-old woman, but bold-faced names and the occasional curse word are par for the course at the Grey Quill Society, a weekly memoir writing group for residents of the Motion Picture and Television Fund's Woodland Hills community for aging entertainment professionals. That morning, the group had already heard from a retired character actor about the time Doris Day persuaded her to help rescue a starving dog in Beverly Hills. A former Flamenco dancer shared a tale about her nerve-racking stint working for Morris 'Moishe' Levy, a music business executive with reported mob ties. Bob Beitcher, president and CEO of MPTF, who drops in on Grey Quill meetings whenever he can, looked up the Flamenco dancer's former boss on his phone after she finished her story. 'Moishe Levy was a prominent subject of investigations into organized crime and was convicted for extortion just before his death,' he read off Wikipedia. 'That's my guy!' she replied, flashing a camera-ready smile. Run by 40-year-old writer and producer Victoria Bullock, the Grey Quill Society is part writers room, part support group and occasional stand-up show. Its roughly two dozen members range in age from 65 to 95 and many agree that the two-hour meeting is the highlight of their week. Few of them knew each other before moving to the MPTF campus, but their shared experience working in Hollywood gives them an easy rapport. 'It's such a unique group of people because we have all spent our lives in the industry,' said Sherwood, who moved into a 1940s-era cottage at MPTF nine months ago. 'Here you can tell your stories and people understand because they have their own stories too.' Conceived by silent film star Mary Pickford, the Motion Picture and Television Fund was founded in 1921 to care for people in the entertainment industry who had fallen on hard times. In its early years the organization was funded in part by a payroll pledge program for studio workers earning more than $200 a week and by a popular radio program, 'The Screen Guild Theater,' in which stars like Judy Garland, Humphrey Bogart and Joan Crawford donated their salaries to MPTF for appearing on the show. These revenue streams allowed the nonprofit to break ground on a 48-acre campus in 1941 where it would eventually open a hospital and housing for 250 people under the motto 'We take care of our own.' Touring the campus in 1948, famed Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper described the property as 'like a fabulous country club beautifully situated amidst gardens, oak trees, and all kinds of flowering shrubs.' 'I've paid $30 a day at a country club or hotel for much less,' she wrote, adding that she wanted to submit her own application. Today the grounds feature an extensive rose garden, a dog park named Doggywood, a 230-seat theater with a red brick 'carpet' leading to its entrance, the Jodie Foster Aquatic Pavilion and a stylish potting shed that has become a popular place for residents to enjoy another type of 'pot.' You'll find Mary Pickford's ornate heirloom grandfather clock outside the communal library where trade magazines like Variety and the Hollywood Reporter are laid out each day. The song 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' was composed on a piano near the entrance of one of the living facilities. MPTF offers a range of housing options including independent living in classic 1940s cottages and modern condos, assisted living apartments, skilled nursing facilities and memory care. To qualify for housing most residents need to be at least 70 years old and have worked for 20 years in the industry, or be married to someone who did (there is some wiggle room around the age requirement for people in need of medical care). Those who can afford to pay for room and board do. Those who can't are subsidized by MPTF for as long as needed. Currently about 50% of residents receive some kind of subsidy. The waitlist for independent living units is generally a week to six months. For memory care and skilled nursing it can be up to a few years. 'Creativity is ageless' is another motto on campus. Residents can choose from an array of classes including ceramics, piano, studio art and improv. There is also an in-house production studio that offers community members the opportunity to conceive of and host their own shows and film produtions. The Grey Quill Society began in 2013 as a four-week memoir writing class that has continued indefinitely. The group has published five essay compilations available for purchase at Amazon and celebrities like Jon Hamm, Matthew McConaughey, Billy Porter and Yvette Nicole Brown have read some of the Quills' stories aloud as part of a fundraiser. Hawk Koch, a film producer and former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is a regular attendee. He doesn't live on campus, but he makes the drive from Ojai each week to attend meetings and occasionally read from his book 'Magic Time' about his Hollywood days. The group's founding leader was volunteer Peter Dunne, a writer, producer and writing instructor who worked on 'Dallas,' 'Melrose Place' and 'Sybil.' Dunne taught the Quills that there is a difference between autobiography and memoir. If autobiography is a recording of facts in chronological order, then memoir seeks to focus on specific moments, episodes or people who changed the writer — for better or worse. He wanted the group to endeavor for the latter. 'During Peter's days it was guys talking about their experience in WWII for the first time, women talking about experiences in their career that were very dark, people saying I never told this story to anyone,' Beitcher said. 'It was very therapeutic and amazing to see such a safe space where people could tell those stories.' Bullock began attending the weekly sessions after meeting Dunne at an appreciation event for MPTF volunteers in 2014. When Dunne left L.A. in 2019, Bullock took over the group. She sees her role as making sure participants feel seen and heard, gently directing discussions and encouraging members to dig deeper in their writing. 'Some of them really think it's about the writing, and of course it's great when it's good writing, but that's not the most important part,' she said. 'There's very much a sacred circle of Quills. They get real vulnerable, and I do too.' Although most of the Quills did not work as professional writers, many say that having the space to tell their stories has given them purpose and joy in the later stages of their lives, as well as an opportunity to exercise the creative drive that brought them to the entertainment industry in the first place. 'It's just kind of keeping your foot in the door, because otherwise you get a little crazy when you have that drive,' said Jodie Mann, 76. 'This is the only place I have to be creative.' David Quick, a former prop master, said that the process of composing stories for the Quills and sharing them at the weekly meetings is the most important thing in his life. 'I didn't come here thinking I was a writer,' he said. 'I found out I am.' J. Rickley Dumm, 84, is one of the few members of the Grey Quill Society who wrote for a living before moving to the MPTF in 2019. He started his career in the mailroom at Universal and became a writer and producer for television shows like 'Rockford Files' and 'Magnum P.I.' When his Hollywood career ended he began writing novels. When Dumm first joined the group he told Bullock that he was never going to write about himself. Soon, however, he wrote a piece about a stutter that plagued him during his youth. He's been writing personal stories ever since. Dumm's speaking voice isn't as strong as it once was, so he often asks his friend Guerin Barry, who sang with the American rock 'n' roll group Sha Na Na and is a skilled voice actor, to read his stories aloud. On a recent Thursday he shared a eulogy for his friend and fraternity brother John Stephen Dahlem, a high school principal, ordained minister, wrestling coach and marathon runner who summited the tallest mountains on all seven continents, including Mt. Everest twice. After sharing the details of Dahlem's life, Dumm concluded: 'I'd wager that if I had not written this about my friend and fraternity brother, you probably would never have heard of him. Now you have!' After Barry finished reading, Bullock handed Dumm a microphone so he could share a few additional thoughts. 'We never dreamed he would do any of these things at the fraternity house,' he told the group. 'He was a cut-up. He was a comedian. But for him, it wasn't about the summit. It was about the climb.' After he finished talking, Bullock shared her feedback. 'That's such a lovely metaphor for somebody who really understands life,' she said. 'You're enjoying the climb. Because once you get there, it's over.' The subject of death doesn't come up in every meeting of the Grey Quill Society, but it's often there beneath the surface. Many Quills are in their 80s and 90s, and the group occasionally loses a member. Only one of the original Quills is still alive. Bullock said grappling with the knowledge that many in the group are nearing the end of their lives is one of the hardest parts of the volunteer gig. 'You meet them, and you fall in love with them, and you are making a deal to break your own heart,' she said. The MPTF always holds a memory service for residents after a death, but the Grey Quill Society has its own rituals when one of their own dies. Bullock picks a piece written by the member who passed to read aloud and then talks about that person's journey at the Quills. Other members share their own memories. Over the years Bullock has found that while the group doesn't necessarily want to address death directly, they acknowledge that for most of them, MPTF is the last place they'll live. 'We're all very aware that this is the last chapter,' a friend from the Quills once told her. 'But sometimes, the most interesting things happen in the last chapter.' On my second visit to the Grey Quill Society, a retired character actor shared a story about playing a cop on a television series and receiving a panicked phone call from her grandmother who was worried she had taken a dangerous job in the police force. A stage actor recalled the time she was in a production of 'Arsenic and Old Lace' with Bela Lugosi, who she worried wanted to suck her blood. A former Shakespearean actor read a piece about the pleasure of indulging in a beautiful pair of Gucci loafers, which he wore around New York City. Sherwood had another story to share about Cary Grant, this time, about how they met when he offered her a ride home from the studio. He told her he wasn't good at marriage. She quipped that the next time he apply for a learner's permit instead of a license. Beitcher was there too, leaning against the wall, enjoying all of it. 'They say you never die until the last person who knew you dies,' he said. 'I think they are extending their lives in some meaningful ways.'
